What is APA 7th edition?

APA 7th edition is the seventh edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, published in 2019. It is the standard referencing style for psychology, education, nursing, social sciences, and many other disciplines in UK and international universities. The 7th edition introduced several changes from the 6th edition, most notably around the formatting of author names, running heads, and digital object identifiers (DOIs).

If you need professional referencing support, GradeQuill's referencing and formatting service covers APA 7th and all other major styles.

In-text citations

APA 7th uses an author-date system. In-text citations appear as (Author, Year) immediately after the relevant claim. For direct quotations, include the page number: (Author, Year, p. X).

Examples:
, One author: (Smith, 2021)
, Two authors: (Smith & Jones, 2021)
, Three or more authors: (Smith et al., 2021)
, Organisation: (World Health Organisation, 2022)
, Direct quotation: (Smith, 2021, p. 47)

When the author is named in the sentence, only the year appears in brackets: "Smith (2021) argues that…"

Referencing a journal article

Format: Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal, Volume(Issue), Page range. https://doi.org/xxxxx

Example:
Williams, R. J., & Carter, L. (2021). Social media use and academic performance in undergraduate students. Journal of Educational Psychology, 113(4), 712–728. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000612

In APA 7th, include the DOI as a hyperlink where available. If no DOI is available, include the journal homepage URL.

Referencing a book

Format: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of book: Subtitle. Publisher. https://doi.org/xxxxx (if applicable)

Example:
Brown, K. (2020). Academic writing for social scientists. SAGE.

For an edited book: Brown, K. (Ed.). (2020). Title. Publisher.
For a chapter: Jones, M. (2020). Chapter title. In K. Brown (Ed.), Book title (pp. 45–67). Publisher.

Note: In APA 7th, the city of publication is no longer required.

Referencing a website

Format: Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of webpage. Website Name. URL

Example:
NHS England. (2023, March 14). Student mental health support. NHS. https://www.nhs.uk/example

If no date is available, write (n.d.) in place of the year. If the author and the website name are the same organisation, omit the website name to avoid repetition.

Reference list formatting

The APA 7th reference list appears at the end of your work on a new page headed "References" (centred, bold). Entries are listed alphabetically by the first author's surname. All entries use a hanging indent, the first line of each entry is flush left, and subsequent lines are indented by 0.5 inches or approximately 1.27 cm.

Double-space all entries. Do not add extra space between references. In APA 7th, up to twenty authors are listed in full, "et al." is used only from the 21st author onwards, which differs from the 6th edition.

Common APA 7th mistakes

Frequent errors include: using "&" in the running text instead of "and" (the ampersand is reserved for in-text parenthetical citations and reference lists); including the city of publication (no longer required in APA 7th); formatting the running head incorrectly (only required for manuscripts submitted for publication, not for student papers in most institutions); and missing DOIs for journal articles.

Always check your institution's specific APA 7th guidelines, as some departments apply minor adaptations. For guides to other referencing styles, see our articles on Harvard referencing and OSCOLA referencing.

APA 7th Edition Referencing: A Student Guide